Top 10 LGBT+ Celebrity Allies 2017

In alphabetical order

This important award recognises and thanks those outside the LGBT+ community who support the challenges around equality and inclusion.

Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway is an award-winning actress and singer who has starred in thirty films to date. Hathway, whose brother is gay, has repeatedly spoken out about LGBT+ acceptance and was given an Ally Award by the Human Rights Campaign in 2008. She has been quoted as saying “There are people who have said that I’m being brave for being openly supportive of gay marriage, gay adoption — basically of gay rights — but with all due respect, I humbly dissent. I’m not being brave; I’m being a decent human being. And I don’t think I should receive an award for that or for merely stating what I believe to be true: that love is a human experience, not a political statement.”

Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox is a singer-songwriter, campaigner and activist. Her career started in the 1980’s group Eurhythmics and went on to a solo career in 1990. She is an advocate for LGBT+ rights and founder of SING campaign to raise funds and awareness to help prevent the spread of HIV in South Africa. Lennox has been awarded a multitude of honours for her music and humanitarian work including inclusion in the Out Magazine ‘Top 100 Most Influential People in Gay Culture’.

Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande is an award-winning singer and actress. She is also a host of Saturday Night Live and has launched two fragrances. Grande is a very vocal supporter of LGBT+ rights and has previously commented to the press that homophobia is illogical and that witnessing it turns her into a ‘raging lunatic’. Her brother is gay and she has stated that ‘all of her best friends are gay’.

Emma Watson

Emma Watson is an actress best known for her role has Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film franchise. Watson is quick to voice her support for LGBT+ rights to her 50 million followers and fans on social media, and notably tweeted her support for Britain’s first out gay rugby league player, Keegan Hirst, saying “Courage is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation”. She is a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and an advocate for the #HeForShe campaign and has said that “feminism supports the LGBTQ community”.

James Corden

James Corden is an actor, writer, producer, comedian, television host and singer. Corden is a LGBT+ rights supporter and paid tribute to the victims of the Orlando shootings at the 2016 Tony Awards during his opening speech, saying “on behalf of the whole theatre community, and every person in this room, our hearts go out to all those affected by this atrocity.” In 2015 James attended LA Pride and filmed a campaign to be their Grand Marshall in 2016. He also chose Terrence Higgins Trust as his charity of choice on Celebrity Deal or o Deal and won £16,000 for the charity.

Macklemore

Macklemore is an award-winning hip hop recording artist. He is a strong advocate for LGBT+ rights and voiced his support of same-sex marriage in the hit song ‘Same Love’ which condemns homophobia in hip-hop, society, and the media. The song also features the openly lesbian singer-songwriter Mary Lambert. Macklemore has been quoted as saying: “Gay rights are human rights. There is no separation”. In 2016 Macklemore introduced honourees on behalf of LOGO at Trailblazer Honors where he called for legislative changes to enforce greater LGBT+ equality.

J. K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling is an author of one of the most successful book franchises of all time, the Harry Potter series, that also went on to become one of the most successful film franchises of all time. She has been quoted as saying that the Harry Potter character Dumbledore is gay during a Q&A in a Colorado high school in 2007 when a student asked her if Dumbledore had ever been in love. More recently, she has hinted that Dumbledore’s character will be openly gay in the Fantastic Beasts sequel. Rowling actively responds to anti-gay lobbyists on social media in support of LGBT+ rights and famously tweeted a meme with an LGBT rainbow strip featuring “Harry Potter taught us no-one should live in a closet”.

Patrick Stewart

Patrick Stewart is an actor most known for his role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’. A close friend of actor and former British LGBT Awards winner, Sir Ian McKellen, Stewart insisted he was ‘utterly flattered’ when he is misidentified as a gay man, telling McKellen: ‘this is a very distinctive honour that I’ve been awarded.’ Stewart has also publicly declared that ‘supporting gay rights’ should be ‘natural’. He is also a Patron of Refuge, the women’s domestic violence charity.

HRH Prince William

Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, is currently the UK’s most popular royal, behind the Queen herself. In September 2015 he spoke out against anti-LGBT bullying, a first for the British Royal Family and in July 2016, Prince William became the first ever royal to appear on the cover of an LGBT magazine: Attitude. During his interview with Attitude he spoke out against bullying and stated ‘No one should be bullied for their sexuality or any other reason.’

Thierry Henry

Thierry Henry is a professional footballer and a member of the UNICEF-FIFA squad. Henry is a vocal advocate of LGBT+ rights, and has voiced that players being able to be openly gay would be good for the game. “I think it’s great, I think it’s great for the game, we’re going forward, it’s great for anyone, for any human being. If you are confident enough to come and say it and then live with it and embrace it, then do it. I can’t talk for everyone, but if I was in a dressing room, that guy would still have been my team-mate, and I would still give him the ball, I will still see him the same way, I would still go out with him.” He is also a vocal supporter of the Stonewall Rainbow Laces campaign.